NST Challenge - Spring is here!

Fmess

bob - there is a shop near me that has a large kiddies play pen built into the corner of the shop. The owner's children play in there and shoppers' children are free to go in whilst the parents shop. Maybe, like you say, you could get help in for a few hours a day/on the busiest days.


Well done on your cleaning lilt


Welcome back the only girl

mothernerd

.Thanks for all your kind comments. I spent five minutes this morning scribbling down all the things that were 'wrong' and came up with fifteen of them so should be grateful I only retreated into my shell and am not a complete gibbering wreck. Mostly other people/ organisations causing the problem or things outwith my control. So I have had a reading and chocolate day which has helped a lot (not a long-term solution).

Think I expected that once I was walking there would be rapid improvements and that isn't happening and it is frustrating. I am improving and still trying to celebrate each improvement but I have to be more realistic and accept that if I do a lot of walking or a difficult household task, then there will be a 'cost' ie very little getting done for a day or two.

Just need to concentrate on the things I can do something about and practice being kinder to myself. Kindness is this month's theme in the Year of Happiness and I thought I was going to ace it (loved Gratitude, struggled with Optimism, barely got to grips with Mindfulness although I kept telling myself I was doing mindful walking, concentrating on walking upright and taking proper steps) but apparently I am kind to others but not to myself.

This fits in with the discussion on our various 'demons' and several people being overly self-critical. Suggestions are acting as your own best friend (ie if a friend came to you with this problem, what would you say to her) and also taking different 'chairs' for different roles. If you are actually going to use different chairs I suggest you do it when you are on your own but basically you adopt different roles, the critic, the person being criticised and then the 'compassionate friend' or 'friendly observer' who adds balance. You then need to get the 'friend' working for you so that when you criticise yourself they interrupt your negative thoughts (best of all before you open your mouth) and modifies what you were going to say. Hope that makes sense.

Saw a lovely kindness video to kick the whole thing off. A woman celebrating her thirtieth birthday by lots of acts of kindness. Some were direct, she gave bunches of flowers to mothers - basically women who had toddlers in tow but some secret, like leaving a five pound note inside a book in the children's section of a bookshop.

Hugs for everyone. Bob and Lilt in particular, look after yourselves. I am enjoying the stealth laundry, have just stuffed DS3's huge purple fake fur cover in the machine and have six clean pillows stacked on the toaster (will get more organised by the end of the week, promise).

Today I am grateful for the flowers on the civic square, for a shop assistant
asking if I was ok (was slightly dizzy, didn't complain but felt I could go back to her if it went worse) and lovely books (well not lovely, one's a crime thriller).

The_Only_Girl

Hi, good morning all!

A bit of positivity coming from my side. Glad to note it's not been all bad after all.

1. Hubby and I managed to tackle the huge paper file in the master's bedroom. There are now 4 bin bags full of shredded outdated bank statements, etc. The wardrobe and the bookshelves will be next target. Managed to "fling boogie" some outgrown clothes, rang Rag Bag, awaiting collection. Money raised will go towards our church building fund.

2. I finished reading a book! Whilst on holiday last week we made a trip to the charity shop and bought some books to pass the time away when not sight seeing. God some really nice books for the whole family from British Red Cross for 50p each. I finished reading North Child by Edith Pattou, it's now ready to be passed on to my 14 year old niece. (It's also my way of screening what books would be age appropriate for her.) Youngest son is reading Gifted Hands by Ben Carson. DS1 is reading Osama by Chris Ryan. All from charity shop.

3. Called my employer re change of bank details. Got ourselves a Santander 123 account! Excited to get cashbacks for our direct debits and also got £35 cashback via Quidco for opening said account. Every little helps.

4. sowed some seeds last week before we went on holiday. Seedlings are now happily saying hi to me. We have no greenhouse yet so all my window sills are acting as greenhouse atm. So far I've got park choi, dwarf beans (white and purple varieties), sunflowers, tomatoes, broccoli, and basil. Will sow spinach, parsley, okra and some flowers next week.

On late shift tonight (3-11pm) and LTW is ready and waiting.

Hopefully this will mean I am back on track. Wish me luck fellow NST's

Have a good day

Calling14

Hiya turtles, hope you all had a lovely weekend.

Dr Carrie good luck with the interview today.

Fmess I survived the ladder fall (besides my pride)and so did the rose bush unfortunately, not a fan of it given by a dog walker friend he didn't want it any more.

Bob so many decisions for you to make. Good luck only you know what is best, The pop up cafe sounds great then you may retain your existing customers.

Welcome back Only girl - Santander pays me nearly 6 pound a month, after their 2 pound fee. Keep thinking about growing veg, my garden is now full to bursting with plants, may pop blueberry bush in somewhere and get some seeds, as I have a lot of containers and a big patio in full sun all day. My brother used parsley for edging his borders

Lilt - agree with you yesterday weather went freezing in the afternoon, warmed up about teatime when I walked the doggie.

Spent money both days over the weekend , yesterday was just petrol.
Today SFD, going straight home after work and now with secluded garden going to enjoy a bit of sun.

Mothernerd Hard to stay positive all the time, frustrating when everything is out of your control as well. just take each day at a time and enjoy life. Don't rush your recovery either, sit and eat chocolate. Do what makes you happy, life is too short.

My daughter wants me to take out annual zoo membership 33 pounds not budgeted for, need to pay in next 3 weeks. Probably makes sense as not far from me and even if I haven't got my grandson in tow, enjoy walk there and look around.

Glad to be back in work today, painted all fencing yesterday as I couldnt hold paint pot and hang onto the ladder, ran up and down all morning. I ache all over. Who needs the step aerobics.?

The_Only_Girl

Went to the market today en route to work to see someone about clothing alteration. I bought a couple of cheap work trousers in X catalogue for £2ish a pair but they are too long and too wide. The lady at the alteration quoted me £20 for shortening and tapering, which I thought was quite staggering to pay for a pair of trousers I only paid £2 for. The other pair was a summer trousers you can wear as a full trousers or a foldy up ones and she quoted me £5 for a couple of stitches here and there. :eek: So I politely said, I will give it a go at doing it myself. She was nice enough to accept my decision and didn't make me feel like I wasted her time. I safely dodged paying £25 there! Whew!!!!

I also needed to get my eyeglasses fixed which I broke after putting them under my pillow before bedtime, silly me . My plan was to go to Spexav3rs but on my way there, I passed by a local optician and asked if they could fix them for me. He said yes, for only £2! I couldn't believe my ears when he said that. I am quite sure if I went to Spexav3rs, it would have cost me a lot more and I would have had to wait at least 2 days for it. The guy at this shop said it was a 2 minute job and I could pick the glasses up after I have done my shopping. 30 minutes later, I got my eyeglasses back, as good as new and my purse was only £2 lighter. Actually he nearly forgot to take my payment and when I reminded him he said it was only £2 so not a huge problem. Isn't it nice when you meet some good natured people who don't always see a £ sign everytime they meet people. He just got me as a new regular customer.

Today I got my mini greenhouse and my okra seeds in the post. Looking forward to sowing them tomorrow as well as the sweet corn and assembling my mini greenhouse so my house will look like a house and not a greenhouse. Somebody also offered me a planting table on Freecycle which I will pick up tomorrow. Can't wait!!!!

Gotta go back to work. See you again soon!

Samiszel

Had a great training session at work today. Was about self-control, and it hugely applied to my personal life as well as work. I've printed out 2 posters saying "Wait 10 minutes... then rethink"- one to put above my desk at home (when I'm tempted to spend online) and one to stick on the fridge (when I'm tempted to snack). These MSE forums and challenges are such a great support in what is essentially teaching ourselves self-control with money. Feeling really buzzing and motivated this evening

Today is NSD number 2 and LTW number 1.

Bobarella

Hi All

Nice to see you posting again The Only Girl sounds like a lot of postives happening with you. Glad yout got to have a few nice family days over easter at the very least.

Calling - Thank you. I think time will help as well in this regard as I know I felt very different having had my son regarding work etc, so I sort of want to leave it a bit as well before rushing into anything decsiony. Make sense? The zoo membership would be nice.

Fmess - Thanks for the feedback about the other cafe

Mothernerd - Thank you too & sorry to hear you have been feeling so fed up with your progress. You have achieved some huge things this year though, like getting the energy people to finally take notice, thats major!

Samiszel - You sound so enthused! Its great

Hi to everyone else reading.

So a good day today at work. A solid start to the week but not too busy.
I havent spent any of my own money today so NSD 6/15
Found 21p around and about, & got £2.50 in my tips.
Loving my new bike, which came to an enormous £84! Good old Decathlon. It comes with a 2 year warantee on the frame, 1 year parts cover & if I take it back in within 2 months they will sort out any nit picking on the bike, which is brilliant as their service on a bike starts from £35 normally. I paid for my bike from Fridays takings as it is something I am riding too and from work, using for deliveries etc. So all good.
Just done all the checking on my accounts as well. 10 days till OH gets paid & we can do a tiny bit more debt slaying.

Hugs to all who need them.
Bob

academiablues

Evening all! Calling, zoo membership sounds fab if you can afford it always nice to treat yourself. Bob, well done on the bike!
OH's colleagues got him a birthday cake today - his birthday was last week (he was on half term then though) - he's only gone and brought it all home with him! Didn't occur to him to share it! So it's going back with him tomorrow!!! It was lovely of them, I haven't had time to bake him a cake this year. Been at work today, so haven't had chance to spend anything but will tomorrow as I need petrol. Spent the evening tending to my tomato and chilli plants! Hope everyone's okay.

apple_muncher

Today I am grateful for my padded cycling shorts, for an inspiring day at work, for getting some bunny arms stitched up, for watching Boxtrolls, for finding ever more things to give away.

mothernerd

A SFD. More stealth laundry - well better than that. Told DS3 yesterday that at some point I need to wash his 'special pillow' and he ran off with it. Today he has voluntarily handed it over, saying it smelled like the inside of a boxing glove (I didn't check:eek:). Have also told him I want his sheet and duvet cover and he just said he would be going downstairs later.

Found some stuff left by DS2 and sprayed the bottom and sides of the oven and put the oven trays outside to do them. Haven't been back to them except to do a second lot on the oven bottom but will do them tomorrow then the rags can go in the bin for Wednesday.

Also slept a lot.

Today I am grateful for sleep, books and puzzles.